by advaitamandscience | Nov 16, 2024 | Articles
Chapter two and chapter eighteen are considered as big chapters in Bhagavad Gita. Chapter two has seventy-two slokas. This chapter is considered as the essence of Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavan Sri Krishna begins his advice from this chapter. In this chapter He explains the nature of the Atma and the nature of the Yogi.
In chapter one, we are able to see the dejected mind of Sri Arjuna. Sri Arjuna said to Bhagavan Krishna that he does not feel that it is right to fight against his guru, relative and friends in the battle. He said that he does not want to enjoy the kingdom that has the stain of blood of his near and dear ones and saying thus he put his Gandiva down and sat in his chariot.
Bhagavan Sri Krishna saw the dejected state of Arjuna. Bhagavan understood that in spite of so much talent, skill and practice, Arjuna lacks the inner strength due to the absence of knowledge. Arjuna is physically strong but mentally weak and understood that only knowledge can rescue him from this situation.
When a person’s mind is weakened by emotions, then his skill, talent, practice, status or money will be of no use to him. only devotion to God can rescue him from trying situations. It will help him to implement knowledge. We all face similar situations like the situation of Arjuna in our life.
Sri Arjuna again requested Bhagavan to show him the right path and said that he takes refuge in Him.
Bhagavan begins His advice from the eleventh sloka. Actually, the core of Bhagavad Gita begins from Chapter two, sloka eleven.
Bhagavan says that,” Arjuna you grieve for those who should not be grieved for; you pretend to be wise but you are not; the wise grieve not for the dead or for the living” Bhagavan speaks about the immortal nature of the Atma. He says that “Myself, you or the soldiers who are here never die. Only the body dies and not the Atma. The Atma as the embodied soul (Jiva) resides in the body. The body perishes by time, but the soul is immortal. When the body perishes by time, the Jiva (soul) takes another body. The Jiva or Self is imperishable (avyaya), indestructible (Avinashi), and immeasurable (Aprameya). If it is unreal, then it will not exist. If it is real, then it never ceases to exist. The Self is all-pervading, immortal, changeless, and ancient. It always exists. The Jiva or the Self cannot be killed nor it can kill anyone. One who thinks the other way is a deluded person. Weapons do not cut it, water does not wet it, nor the wind can dry it. Just as the man casts off the worn off clothes and put on new clothes, this Jiva casts off the old body and assumes a new body and that is the birth of the body. So why do you grieve Arjuna; are you grieving for the worn off body of your guru and relatives, which is made of matter?” questioned Bhagavan Krishna.
Furthermore, Bhagavan says that whatever is born is bound to die by the inevitable action of the prakriti. So, why do you cry for something that is inevitable. Bhagavan tells to Arjuna to shed off all the unnecessary thoughts, because the unnecessary thoughts delude the mind. Furthermore, the duty of a kshatriya is to fight the war; if he fails to do his duty, then the future generations will blame and curse him for failing to do the duty. Bhagavan says that if he wins the war then he can rule the land, if not he can enjoy the heaven; if he fails to do the duty then sin will incur him.
Bhagavan tells the essence of karma yoga in sloka forty-seven and it is a very famous sloka
“Karmanyevadhikarasya ma phaleshu kadhachana
Ma karmaphala hetur bhuma te sango’stvakarmani”
‘One has the right to do the action; the result should not be their motive; at the same time, one must not be attached to inaction also’. When our mind is fixed in the expectation of the result of a karma, we cannot completely devote our mind to do the action. Moreover, many factors influence the result of a karma. So, we cannot decide the result. If we completely devote our energy in doing the action then the result will follow. One should not perform an action reluctantly. At the same time, one should not engage in inaction also; it will make the mind dull. If we attach our mind to the result of the karma, then we have to take birth to experience the result of that karma. One must have an evenness of mind in both success and failure. One must perform the action with full devotion and at the same time should not focus on the result alone. Such a person is called a karma yogi. Evenness of mind is called yoga. A karma yogi is qualified for self-realization.
Arjuna asks Bhagavan that how does a man of steady wisdom and evenness of mind behave in this materialistic world.
Bhagavan answers that a man of steady wisdom and evenness of mind is satisfied ‘In the self by the self’ “Atmanyeva atmana tushtaha:”
His mind always remains peaceful and not shaken by the adversities of nature or by the dualities of nature. He neither rejoices nor hates anything. It does not mean that he is passive; passiveness is a negative quality. But a yogi rejoices in his Self and he needs nothing external for his satisfaction. He very well understands the temporary nature of the world and rejoices in himself. He withdraws the senses from the sense organs and establishes in his Self.
When the senses are not under the control of the mind, the mind attaches with the objects; from it arises desire, which leads to anger. Anger results in delusion and it give memory loss; which results in destruction of discrimination. With the destruction of discrimination perishes that person. However, a man of steady wisdom surpasses all these and attains peace and tranquillity. Only a peaceful mind can attain knowledge, which leads to self-realization. Whatever a worldly man see as precious is ignored by a yogi and whatever a yogi rejoices cannot be understood by a common man. A man of wisdom remains unmoved in all circumstances and gradually he attains oneness with Brahman. Bhagavan Sri Krishna ends this chapter two with this message.
by advaitamandscience | Oct 14, 2024 | Articles
In this series of articles, I would like to share with you the essence of each chapter of Bhagavad Gita.
This series of articles is mainly written for the devotees of Bhagavan who may not have enough time or conducive atmosphere to study Bhagavad Gita in detail in their busy scheduled life. If this series of articles benefit them, then I consider it as a great puniya for myself.
INTRODUCTION
Bhagavad Gita comes in the Bhishma parva of Mahabharata.
The eldest son of the Kauravas, Dhritarashtara, was blind. Therefore, the power to rule Hastinapura kingdom went to his younger brother Pandu. After Pandu’s death it is customary that the kingdom should come to the children of pandu. But due to circumstances, Dritharastara was made the king and when the pandu’s children, the Pandavas returned from the forest, King Dritarashtara refused to give back the kingdom and he wanted his son Duryodhana to rule the kingdom.
This injustice was opposed by Bhagavan Krishna who was the relative of both Pandavas and Kauravas, but very close to Pandavas because they followed dharma. The Kauravas did injustice to Pandavas in many ways and refused to give back the kingdom. Bhagavan Krishna went as a messenger of Pandavas to the Hastinapura Kingdom and requested King Dhritarashtara to give the ancestral property back to the Pandavas. However, King Dhritarashtara refused not only to give back the kingdom, but also refused to give even a piece of land to the Pandavas. When all the dialogues failed situation demanded a battle between the Kauravas and Pandavas to decide the ruler of Hastinapura.
Bhagavan Krishna stood with the Pandavas and he became the charioteer of Arjuna in the battle field. Arjuna was extremely talented and skilled but his knowledge was covered by ignorance. In the battle field Bhagavan Krishna removed his ignorance with the hymn of knowledge – Bhagavad Gita.
Bhagavad Gita has seven hundred slokas, divided in to eighteen chapters. Five hundred and seventy-two slokas were spoken by Bhagavan Krishna and the rest are the slokas spoken by Arjuna and Sanjaya.
Ved Vyasa gave a unique power to Sanjaya, the charioteer of Dhritarashtara, to see the happenings in the battlefield and report the same to the blind king. On the tenth day of the battle, Bhishmacharya, the commander of the Kauravas, and the great grandfather of Arjuna was defeated by Arjuna. Arjuna and Bhishmacharya were so close to each other; King Dhritarashtara questioned the mental strength of Arjuna to defeat Bhishmaacharya. He asked Sanjaya, that what gave Arjuna the power to defeat Bhishmapithaamaha. Sanjaya said that the advice given by Bhagavan Krishna in the battle field at the commencement of the battle changed the mind of Arjuna; and Sanjaya begins to retell Bhagavad Gita on the tenth day of the battle. This the back drop of Bhagavad Gita.
CHAPTER 1
Bhagavad Gita begins not with the words of Bhagavan Krishna or Arjuna, but with the words of Dhritarashtara. It was the question of Dhritarashtara as a father and not as a King about the happenings in the battle field. Chapter 1 has forty-seven slokas and it explains the armies arrayed in the battle field and the depressed mind of Arjuna.
When Arjuna entered the battle field in the chariot driven by Bhagavan Krishna, he was shocked to see his near and dear ones ready to fight for a piece of land. The army of the Pandavas was arrayed under the leadership of Dhrishtadyumna, and the Kauravas under the leadership of Bhishma. The conches were blown as a mark of the commencement of the battle. Bhagavan Krishna blew his Panchajanya and Bhishma his Devadutta. Flowing them many blew their conches and the sound pierced the sky. Seeing the men arrayed in Dhritarashtara’s side ready to discharge weapons to kill him and his brothers and realizing whom and all he has to kill to get back power and rulership, the mind of Arjuna oscillated.
Arjuna asked Bhagavan Krishna to place the chariot in the middle of the battle field so that he can see clearly who are all are desirous to fight with him and to know with whom he must fight. As requested, Bhagavan Krishna placed the chariot in the middle of the two armies – in front of Bhishma and Drona, and the great rulers on the Earth. Arjuna saw fathers, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons and once dear friends arrayed ready to kill him. They all turned hostile for a piece of land. Arjuna spoke to Bhagavan Krishna in words sorrowfully –‘My limbs fail and my mouth is parched, my body quivers, my Gandiva (bow) slips from my hand. I do not see any good in killing my kinsmen in battle; I see no victory, kingdom or pleasure; I do not wish to kill my relatives or friends or teachers for power, though they wish to kill me. If I kill the sons of my uncle only sin will accrue me. They may be interested in killing me, but not me. If I kill the men in battle, their families will perish. It is not dharma to destroy a family. They will suffer in many ways. We are involved in a sin for the greed of a kingdom. If they want to kill me, I am happy to die but I will not slay them in the battle’ Having said this Arjuna sat on the seat of the chariot with his mind overwhelmed with sorrow.
The reply of Bhagavan Krishna to the dejection of mind of Arjuna is the entire Bhagavad Gita.
Let us see the reply of Bhagavan Krishna in the next article.
by advaitamandscience | Sep 6, 2024 | Articles
THE ASURI SAMPAT
The asuri sampat are the demonical values. The demonical values are explained in the sixteenth chapter of Bhagavad Gita. A person who has dominant Rajo guna or tamo guna will have this nature. A person who has dominant sattva guna will have the daivi sampat (vide previous articles). In Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavan has given few asuri sampat, which we will see in this article.
1.Dambha
Dhambha is hypocrisy. It is to pretend to be what one is not. Pretend to be righteous, rich, educated, religious, high status etc. These are some of the dhambha people normally like to exhibit. Pretending to be religious or spiritual is the worst kind of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is a mixture of deceit and falsehood. People pretend to be someone only to receive benefits from the society and to be respected by all. They boost false merits but in return they get only demerits.
2. Darpa
Darpa is arrogance. People give so much value to what they have. They identify too much with their external characters. They forget their divine nature and think that they are what they have as mere qualification. People identify too much with their learning, wealth, property, beauty etc and they have pride over it and it leads to arrogance.
3. Parushyam (in speech)
Parushyam is speaking exactly the opposite to what one possess. Boosting a poor man as a rich one, an illiterate as highly educated etc. it is usually done with an ulterior, selfish or evil motive. It is just pretending as an educated man and involving in robbery or cheating others. It is very common in the present time.
4. Ajnanam
Ajnanam is ignorance. Ignorant of what to do and what not to do. There is absence of discrimination. They do not know what is the right path. Worse is they assume the wrong path as right. They are not sure about what is real and unreal, good and evil, virtue and vice. They misunderstand everything. They are drowned in misconceptions. They do not even accept other’s right view. They will not be able to take right decisions at the right time. They will always depend on others for decisions making.
5. Abhimanam
Abhimanam is thinking too high about their own merits and not recognizing others merits. They identify too much with their merits. They expect others to praise them and talk about their greatness. If not, they themselves will talk about their own glory. They forget the fact that each one has their own glory. Taking too much pride with their own merits and always identifying with their own merits is abhimanam.
6. Krodha:
Krodha is anger. If a person identifies with their own merits and if others do not recognize them in the same way, then they get anger. Apart from that, arrogance, jealousness, expectation all these too leads to anger. By krodha, the mind and bhuddhi are deluded. They hastily take wrong decisions and easily gets confused. Sometimes, krodha leads to complete destruction. Krodha gets manifested itself when one gets something unpleasant and when he comes across something disagreeable.
7. Ahamkara
Ahamkara is identifying themselves with their own body and mind. It is the outcome of ignorance. They think too great of the qualities they posses and for those which they falsely superimpose on themselves. They expect others to respect their qualities and often demand very high price.
These are some of the asuri sampat (demonical values) given in the sixteenth chapter of Bhagavad Gita. A person who has asuri nature cannot lead a peaceful life and cannot travel in the spiritual path successfully.
by advaitamandscience | Aug 10, 2024 | Articles
DAIVA SAMPAT – PART 4
In my last three articles I explained about some of the daiva sampat as described in chapter sixteen of Bhagvad Gita. In this article, I would like to explain some more.
1. Hrih
Hrih can be said as modesty. It is the shame felt by a person when he involves in some adharmic act or any action done in contrary to the rules of the Vedas or the norms of the society. A well-disciplined person by mistake if he does any action against the law of the land then he will feel bad or repent for his actions. He will immediately search ways to correct the mistake done by him.
2. Achapalam
Avoidance of useless action is Achapalam. Some people have the habit of shaking the legs or hands when they sit or talk to someone else; some people will go on speaking unnecessarily, boring the listener; some people do unnecessary movement while they listen to someone or while they take rest – the avoidance of such actions is called achapalam. All these unnecessary movement and loose talk indicate the uncontrolled mind. If the mind has less thoughts, then all these movements will automatically stop.
3. Tejas
Tejas indicates clear thoughts, divine nature, vigour, energy and brilliance. The brightness of the mind and intellect is reflected in the body, face and skin of that person. A person who has dominant sattva guna will have tejas. A person who progresses in the spiritual path will have lustre and tejas. A person who has tejas will easily overcome tamasic nature.
4. Kshama
He who is endowed with this virtue does not exhibit anger even when he is insulted, rebuked or assaulted physically, though he is strong enough to take vengeance. He is unaffected by the insult or injury. He always identifies with the Atma and so whatever done to his physical body is external to him. In these people sattva guna will be predominant and they just ignore or do not care for the physical or verbal insult. They just consider the person who insult them as ignorant and forgive them. They are considered to be mentally very strong people.
5. Dhriti
The sage absorbs within himself all calamities. He is steadfast even when he is in very adverse and trying conditions. Dhriti is a particular sattvic vritti or state of mind which removes depression or exhaustion of the body when one is going through a low phase. A person who has this divine attribute never gets disheartened, even when he is under severe trials and difficulties or turbulations.
6. Saucham
Saucham is purity. There are two types of purity; external purity and internal purity. External purity is cleansing the body. Internal purity is cleansing the mind and intellect from all its impurities like lust, anger, greed, pride, jealousy, hypocrisy and imparting good qualities to the mind by practising celibacy, forgiveness, friendliness, charity, humility, nobility, love and compassion etc.
7. Adroha
Absence of hatred or absence of desire to injure others is adroha. This feeling will come only when we see others not different from us. It is a great daiva sampat.
8. Na-atimanita
Atimanita is great pride. A proud man thinks that he is superior to others and that he is worthy of being honoured by others. Na-atimanita is the opposite of this quality.
These are the daiva sampat said by Bhagavan krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.
by advaitamandscience | Jul 21, 2024 | Articles
DAIVA SAMPAT – PART 3
In my last two articles I explained about some of the daiva sampat as described in the chapter 16 of Bhagvad Gita. In this article, I would like to explain some more.
Tyaga:
It is one of the most misinterpreted concepts in Sanatana dharma. Tyaga means renunciation. One should not renounce anything in hurry. If it is done like this then by time the same object what we have renounced will attract us more. One must know its value, its temporary nature and to aim for higher life one can renounce that object or habit. Only by knowledge anyone can renounce anything permanently.
There are two types of renunciation. The external renunciation and internal renunciation.
External renunciation is renouncing any object externally, but our mind will be deeply attached to that object. Even though we renounce them, when we get an opportunity, we will be attached to them. This is the result of immature renunciation. It can be material, wealth, relationships or status. If we are too much attached to the material world, then it is hard to renounce anything. We must train our mind by understanding the temporary nature of the material world and the eternal nature of the Atma and then renounce them. Only knowledge can lead one to proper renunciation.
Internal renunciation is, one may use the objects or the luxuries, but they are not attached to them mentally. A very good example of internal renunciation is King Janaka. Though he was the king of Mythila he was living as a Jnani. The people who have inner renunciation may not appear like a sanyasi, but they have complete renunciation towards everything. They have very well understood the temporary nature of this world. A true man of renunciation gives up the fruits of action.
2. Shanti:
Shanti is the complete serenity of the mind. It is a very important value; one can even say it as a precious gift. True renunciation leads one to shanti. Shanti is a state where the mind is not perturbed by any internal or external disturbances. A peaceful mind is absolutely needed for spirituality.
To attain the state of complete serenity, one must get rid of anger, jealousy, greed, and envy. Only knowledge can wipe off all these evil diseases of the mind.
3. Apaishunam
Apaishunam is the absence of crookedness.
Paishunam is telling the weakness of others and enjoying over it, making the small mistakes done by others as a big issue, finding fault with others, giving mental torture to others etc. All these are considered as paishunam. Apaishunam means the absence of these habits. A calm, matured and knowledgeable mind will always have a non-crooked nature.
4. Daya
Daya means compassion. It is compassion towards anyone in distress. Daya is the state of mind created by knowledge of the self. It indicates the realization of oneness with others. Considering the grief or distress of others as their own and finding solution for it is daya. It is a great value.
5. Aloluptvam
Aloluptvam is non-covetousness. It is a state where one is not affected by the sense objects. A person who is inclined for the spiritual life must understand the nature of the sense objects and avoid it; else the senses and mind cannot be controlled. An uncontrolled mind easily slips away from the goal.
6. Mardhavam
Mardhavam is very gentle behaviour towards all beings, unpretending nature, and treating every one with equanimity. It is a state where one does not identify with the ego. When we have ego, we will develop a habit to look anyone and anything in a lower state. When we have ego, our behaviour becomes rude and dominating. Not only for spiritual life, mardhavam is absolutely needed for materialistic life too.
These are some of the daiva sampat (good values) as said by Bhagavan Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. There are many more values too, which I will explain in my next article.
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